The Higher Education Authority has released figures detailing the breakdown of the gender divide of senior academic posts across publicly funded higher education institutions. Included in the figures is Athlone IT.
The report shows that the proportion of senior academic staff at AIT is 87 per cent male and 13 per cent female.
These figures can be broken down further: at senior lecturer three level, 67 per cent are male and 33 per cent are female while at the bottom of the scale there are 54 per cent male and 46 per cent females at lecturer status. The figures are based on numbers gathered in December 2013.
While the HEA has previously published overall percentages of male/female staff and senior staff this is significantly more detailed. It confirms that while the overall academic staff divide in higher education is 50/50, males significantly outnumber females in senior posts.
While academic appointments are matters for the institutions themselves, the HEA supports a number of initiatives that encourage greater equality in the system.
There was no one available from AIT to comment on the figures at the time of going to print.
